Masquerade
by JenniferLaMontagne
Summary: Happy Halloween everyone! A one-shot for Cat's birthday. JJ goes to a masquerade ball on Halloween, when she'd much rather be with Will..


**A/N: I said that I would write Cat a birthday one-shot, as her birthday is on Halloween. Happy 19th Cat, hope you have a wonderful birthday! **

* * *

"I wish everyday could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time.

Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks."  
― R.J. Palacio

* * *

"How the Bureau thinks that this is a good idea…," JJ moaned as she unzipped her overnight bag and took out the various items of contents, laying them all along Emily's bed.

"Aww, come on J…," Emily laughed, her voice carrying from her bathroom, where she was touching up her mascara, "We have a Halloween party every year…"

"Yeah, a _normal _party, where we can all drink as much as we want and still look semi-professional…, and it's always the week after Halloween, " JJ muttered as she quickly pressed the home button on her phone, which flashed up a photo of Will, the police detective from New Orleans that she had been seeing for the past six months, "….and maybe some of us had plans for Halloween.."

Emily raised her eyebrows as she walked into her bedroom, eyeing all of JJ's belongings which were now scattered across her bedspread. "Who did you have plans with?"

JJ could feel her cheeks start to burn, and she took a deep breath before looking Emily in the eye, "I never said I had plans with _anyone_, I have an annual plan of scaring myself stupid watching horror films, although this year…", she trailed off as she picked up one offending article and waved it the air, "..The only stupid thing is the fact I have to spend the whole night hidden by this!"

"It's a masquerade party J, it'll be fun…," Emily tried to inject as much excitement as she could manage into her voice, which was rewarded by the raise of JJ's eyebrows and a grumble of how unfair it was.

* * *

"So we don't have to stay all night?,", JJ asked hopefully as they walked up the steps into the Bureau building, both women wearing embellished ball gowns and masks.

JJ raised a hand to brush one of her blonde curls from out of her eyes, and fixed the navy and silver mask she wore to cover the top half of her face. She heard Emily sigh as they reached the door,

"We'll see…"

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

"Oh thank you," JJ smiled at the masked waiter who was carrying the tray of champagne. She helped herself to a glass and took a long sip, before mentally berating herself once again for forgetting her cell phone at Emily's, she'd wanted to call Will and complain. It was their first Halloween as a couple, and Will had expressed to her many times how much he loved the holiday, although he had never said why, and she had booked a flight down to New Orleans so they could spend the day doing whatever Will liked doing. She'd sent him a text message that morning, explaining that she couldn't make it because of this stupid function.

JJ sighed as she scanned the room, looking for someone to talk to. Everyone seemed to be getting into the swing of the whole masked thing, JJ could swear that was Rossi and Strauss making out in the corner.

JJ pulled at her mask once again, checking her watch when her arm was raised. God, she felt stupid, like someone out of Romeo and Juliet or something. She'd even lost Emily, Hotch had wanted to talk to her in his office about cases that hadn't been signed off on, JJ hadn't really been listening, and she'd been too busy looking for that nice man with the alcohol.

Finally seeing Garcia, who, although was wearing a mask that covered most of her face, was fluorescent pink to match her dress, and there was only one person that would wear such a colour, JJ began to walk through the crowd, gently shoving couples out of her way.

As she neared her friend, she felt a sharp pinch on her ass, and she turned around, only to see a masked gentleman, wearing a suit and a black mask turning to walk away. JJ reached out and gripped his elbow tightly,

"Do that again," she hissed loudly, to be heard over the music that seemed to be playing from no visible speakers, "…and I'm afraid you won't be able to reproduce…"

She released his arm, and turned quickly, feeling his eyes on her as she walked away.

* * *

Later, as she stood with Reid, pretending to look amused as he practised yet another magic trick that she had seen a hundred times before, she saw the masked man standing by the opposite wall. As he caught her eye, he raised his hand in a wave, and JJ rolled her eyes and looked away. This is why I hate Bureau parties, she thought, some assholes get so goddamn creepy once they have a mask on.

* * *

"Emily, _please_ can we go now, I don't think I've ever been so bored in my life…," JJ moaned as Emily started up another conversation with another random Bureau employee. JJ could calculate that they had been at the party for nearly three hours, which was about two hours and forty-five minutes than she would have liked, she'd rather sit in another of Strauss' sexual harassment seminars than stay at this party.

The creepy man had touched her back about half an hour ago, as she had gone to get another drink, and she had slapped him. Even with the mask covering the majority of his face, she had enjoyed seeing the deep pink mark spread over his cheek as he walked away. She smiled faintly as she thought of all the many ways that Will could beat the dude up.

God, she missed Will. Maybe if she could borrow someone's phone…

"Morgan!," she shouted, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked around, annoyed to getting interrupted from the enjoyable conversation he was having with the woman in the green mask. "Give me your phone, I need to make a call," JJ demanded, holding out her hand. Morgan sighed and rooted around in his suit jacket pocket for his cell,

"Here," he said, tapping a few buttons, "What's the area code?"

"504," JJ said, without thinking.

"504? What are you calling Louisiana for J?," Morgan asked, amused.

"My mom is on holiday, give me the phone…," JJ practically grabbed the phone from Morgan's grasp, and walked to a deserted corner, away from the music.

"Hello?"

"Will! It's me…"

"Jennifer? I thought you had a work thing…"

"I do, it's so stupid Will, and some asshole has been completely ruining my nigh- never mind, I miss you…"

"I miss you too darlin' , my apartment feels lonely with you,"

JJ smiled at the warm tone in his voice, she wanted to be with him so bad. Suddenly, she saw Morgan out of the corner of her eye point to his watch. Lucky guy, she thought, he got to leave.

"Will, I got to go, Morgan needs his cell back, I'll call you when I get back to Emily's, okay?"

"Okay hon' , love you.."

"Love you, bye..," she said, hanging up the phone.

* * *

That's it, JJ decided, casting a final glance at her watch, she was leaving. "Emily, give me the key to your apartment…"

Her friend looked around, confused, "Why?"

"Because I want to leave, you can stay here…"

Emily nodded, and fumbled in her purse before holding out the key to JJ.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you…", JJ smiled at her friend, giving her a quick hug before she walked to collect her coat.

Just as she was about to step off the dance floor, the masked gentleman from earlier stepped in front of her, blocking her exit.

"Move it…," JJ demanded, not in the mood to put up with this now. The man took a step towards her, and she raised her hand to slap him again, only for his hand to shoot up also and catch her by her wrist.

"I only wanted a dance…," he said, and JJ's heart began to beat faster at the sound of his voice. Quickly, she reached up with her free hand and ripped off his mask.

"Will! You asshole!," she exclaimed, hitting him on the shoulder, "I thought you were a psycho!"

He laughed, "I wanted it to be a surprise! Although, you didn't make it very easy for me!," he said, pulling her close.

JJ smiled as he reached down to kiss her, "I'm so glad that you're here…"

Will smiled down at his girlfriend, and brought one of his hands up to her face, pulling her mask up slightly so that he could see her whole face,

"I wouldn't be anywhere else on my birthday…"

* * *

**Happy birthday Cat!**


End file.
